


Toronto

by blowingbubbles



Series: Seven Years Have Passed [5]
Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Betrayed by a friend, Confessions, Downtown Toronto, F/M, Fluffy, Imprinting, Kissing, Leah Clearwater - Freeform, Leah is a boss bitch, Leah is really smart, Love Confessions, Masters, Mates, Multi Chapter, Original Female Character - Freeform, Original Male Character - Freeform, Toronto, Tristan has a secret, confessing, confessing your love on company time, imprint, kid talk, only a little angst, proposal, propose, tech, worktable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-01-30 06:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21423481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blowingbubbles/pseuds/blowingbubbles
Summary: Leah is finally in Toronto, where she planned to end up. Leaving Tristan was the right choice for her. Right?
Relationships: Leah Clearwater/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Seven Years Have Passed [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/812214
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this series was supposed to have the stories out of order but that made me confused, so now I’m going to list them in chronological order but I won’t write them in chronological order. Does that make sense?  
Anyways, Leah’s in Toronto and we are introducing a new character that Leah will depend on a lot, cause a girl needs (platonic) girlfriends.

Toronto in the fall was beautiful, the leaves changes colours and many of the shops downtown decorated their storefronts in preparation for Halloween. Attending classes for her masters degree in Toronto seemed like a good idea when she got to see this amazing combination of nature and steel. Leah’s masters class in physics had let out for the day, and she was walking down the streets of Toronto, killing time before she had to be at her internship. Her life had changed in a matter of months, it was almost unbelievable if not for all the photos on her phone and laptop for proof. 

At this point, only a week away from Halloween, Leah thought about visiting her family for Thanksgiving. American Thanksgiving, she had to remind her self, Canadians had their own thanksgiving a whole month ahead of Americans. Her mom had been asking about her visiting for awhile, since the summer actually. Her brother would probably antagonize her, and Jake would try to persuade to come back and be his Beta because Embry was shit and Sam would look at her like he wanted her but also didn’t. Leah sighed, maybe she wouldn’t visit this Thanksgiving, she could push it off until Christmas. 

Checking the time on her phone, Leah altered her path and turned down another street that would lead her to the very tall building that housed Fleur Consultants, the tech company where Leah was doing her internship at. It was an amazing company that allowed her the ability to build, code and create whatever she wanted, while keeping the rights to her creations. It was why applied for a program at UofT, this internship would give her everything she ever wanted. 

Almost everything. 

Her boss and fast-friend, Vera, made her time in Toronto exciting and bright. She also didn’t push Leah when it became apparent that Leah was nursing a broken heart, she just took Leah out to clubs and restaurants until the ache in her heart just a bit less. It was Leah’s fault anyways, she broke Tristan’s heart by leaving and she broke her own heart in the process. It was a necessary evil, she had rationalized to herself at the time. She wasn’t sure how necessary it was anymore. 

Leah went over in head all the things she needed to get done before the weekend while going up the elevator to the 31st floor, where her workshop was. She needed to finish writing the reports on the computers she fixed, then she needed to work out how to write a patch for a software her predecessor wrote for the company but was becoming obsolete and malfunctioning and then she needed to finish the robot she was building. 

While chewing her bottom lip and musing whether rewriting the program would be less painful than coding a patch, the doors slide open on the 15th floor, half way to her destination, to reveal two people she was not expecting. One was the VP of marketing, chattering away to her companion about their new promo schemes for next summer and whatever else she had to say. The other one was the same man she had left in a hotel bed nearly two months ago, barely hiding the surprise at seeing her here. Leah shuffled over to the right side, allowing the other two more space in the elevator, praying that they’d get off quickly before her floor.

“...so I was thinking maybe changing the colour schemes to a brighter or more vibrant colour, we’re going to the 31st floor, oh! Leah must be going there too, anyways as I was saying...” The VP rambled on without noticing the tension that had settled in the elevator as Tristan stood next to Leah, trying to catch her eye and Leah staunchly avoiding it. Leah resorted to holding her breathe to slow her heartbeat because she was adamant it could be heard by all in the elevator. 

When the doors opened on the 31st floor, Leah flew like a bat out of hell from the confined space that smelled too much like the man whose heart she broke and hightailed it to Vera’s office to hide. Tristan’s hand just brushed her upper arm, failing to hold on where he had obviously reached out for her. It reminded her how after that first night they slept together, he needed to be in close proximity to her whether standing in her personal space or by holding some part of her. 

Vera’s door burst open, startling her and causing her to drop a binder of contacts on the floor, thudding dully against the carpet. 

“He’s here.” Leah declared. “The guy from the summer who I don’t want to see, he’s here. If he asks to see me, I need you to tell him he can’t or that I’m busy, or I’m sick and infectious, or whatever. But he can’t see me. I just, I, I need, Vera, stop laughing!” 

“You are a grown women, Leah,” Vera picked up the binder and deposited it on her desk gently. “If you don’t want to see him, then you assert that. If not, call security.”

“I want to see him. I just can’t. It would be a really bad idea.” Leah looked around her boss-slash-best-friend’s office before squaring her shoulders. “I can do this, right? Actually, can you make sure that no one disturbs me? I have a lot of reports to finish for you.”

“I got you, Leah, I’ll run interference the best I can. Just, if you want to see him and you are as in love with him as you seem, it might not be a bad idea to try to make it work.” Vera replied, concern written in her eyes as she tried not to be judgemental. Obviously Leah had her reasons for not wanting to talk to this guy but Vera wished that Leah was so opposed to the idea of love. Despite only knowing her for a short period of time, Vera was protective of Leah, she seemed like a survivor and Vera liked survivors. 

“Thanks, V, I’ll buy you dinner next time as a thank you.” Leah closed the door as Vera yelled back, “I’ll hold you to that.”

Making her way quickly to her workshop, she laid down her coat and bag in the corner and started gathering all the computers she fixed the week before.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Before she knew it, four hours had passed and many people were leaving for the day. She had gotten through her reports and was now working on two grant applications that would give her the funds to hire someone chemistry inclined to collaborate on her newest idea. 

She was in the middle of typing out how this invention would better the world, when a knock on the door interrupted her train of thought. Without sparing a glance, she called out, “Come in!” assuming that it was Vera coming to check on her. When Vera didn’t start talking, Leah looked up and saw that she wasn’t completely wrong. Vera was there, but so was Tristan. 

Vera approached the work table as Leah’s mind flashed through the options of how this could go down. She could run out of the room, she could ignore the two of them, she could move to Siberia or even Timbuktu...

“I know you don’t really want to see him, but I think you should,” Vera’s quiet plea interrupted her thoughts. Leah’s face quickly changed from panic to betrayal as she took in what ever new best friend had suggested. 

Seeing how Leah was misinterpreting her words, she spoke quickly, “I didn’t know that the guy you left over the summer was Tristan. If I did, I would have tried to get you to reconcile with him. Tristan has been utterly miserable since you left him, and trust me, I would know since he has been moaning about his broken heart since it happened. Just give him a chance, please. Everything you were afraid of happening won’t happen, Tristan would never. He’s a good man, and Leah, he’s in love with you just as much as you’re in love with him.”

“How do you guys know each other?” Leah asked, looking back and forth between Vera and Tristan.

Vera looked back at Tristan, who was still standing in the doorway, looking both nervous and determined. “Tristan is my older brother, and he also owns Fleur. Today is his first day back after his sabbatical year.”

Leah was aware that Vera had two brothers, an older and a younger. She had met the younger one before, as he had stopped by to say hello to his sister but she had never said where her older brother was. Vera said very little about her older brother actually, other than that he was ‘away’ for awhile to deal with things and that she thought he and Leah would get. Obviously Vera was right about how well they got along. 

Leah looked at Tristan briefly before considering whether she should talk to him. She owed him this much, right?

Leah sighed. “Okay, I’ll talk to you Tristan.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah and Tristan talk. His secrets are in the open. But what about Leah’s?

Tristan slipped into the room, closing the door softly behind him. Tristan and Leah were the only ones in the medium sized work space now. Tristan looked around the room and took note of how messy the table was but that everything else was neatly stored. It reminded him of how Leah had unpacked. Everything would be neat in the drawers and hangers but the surfaces designated hers were messy. He was surprised she knew where her make up was half the time. Tristan took a further few steps until he could rest his hands on the wooden table top. Eventually, he raised his eyes to met hers, they looked exactly as they did in him mind’s eye. 

“How are you?” Tristan asked, breaking the silence. 

Leah took in a deep breathe. “I’m good, Toronto is a great city.”

“It is. I was born here and I went to school in the city. It’s a great place to be. Pricey, but good.”

Leah chuckled, “I’m aware. My apartment wasn’t cheap.”

“Right.” Looking down, Tristan traced some of the scars in the wood, wondering if she has created them or if they had been there when she moved into this room. 

“I’m in love with you.” Tristan stated. He looked up and saw Leah looking at her hands resting in her lap.

“Tristan-“, Leah started.

“No, wait , give me a moment to organize my thoughts. I, um. I’m in love with you. We barely had six months together but I’m in love with you. I really wish you hadn’t left because if we had talked about it, you would’ve found out that I was coming to Toronto too and we could’ve come together and we’d still be together.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t, you’re right, but you don’t know that it wouldn’t have happened, Leah! You didn’t give me a chance.”

“You didn’t put up a fight, if I recall correctly. You didn’t ask me to stay or talk about it either!”

“I shouldn’t have to, Leah! You’re an adult, adults talk to each other. I’m not going to force someone who wants to leave me to stay. I want someone to be with me because they want to be there. I love you Leah, but I don’t want you if you don’t want me. I have more self-respect than that.”

“You might have self-respect, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fight for the things or people you want, Tristan. You never gave me any indication that you wanted me to stay.”

“Never? You were in my bed, Leah. I wanted you in my bed. I told you things about me that I’ve never told anyone, not even Vera! Leah, I understand that you have some baggage and some secrets you didn’t want me to know but I told you my secrets. Do you think I tell every women I’ve ever slept with about magic? Do you think I tell people about my parents or about how they died?”

“You may have told me some of your secrets but there were also things you were actively hiding!”

“I didn’t know if you were sticking around, Leah. And obviously I was right to suspect it. I’m so in love with you, but I wasn’t sure that I could trust you with my heart. You’re hiding things too, Leah.”

Tristan saw Leah take a slow breathe in, like she was trying to calm down. She rolled her stool back and pulled out a second from under the table.

“Okay, let’s start now.”

“Start what, Leah? I’m getting tired of being yanked around.”

“Let’s tell each other our secrets. Get it out of the way, so we can stop yelling each other.”

Warily, Tristan walked around the table to Leah’s and accepted the stool she offered him. Settling onto it and crossing his legs at the ankle, Tristan propped an arm on the table. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know, Tristan, they’re your secrets.”

“Okay, well, I told you about magic,” Leah rolled her eyes. “I also told you about how my parents died the night that Rebels went after the Northern Royals. They died protecting all of us children.” Leah nodded. 

“I have a daughter.” Leah raised her eyebrows at this. “She’s turning one in two weeks.”

“Where’s her mom? Is she in the picture, because I’ve done the whole love triangle shit and I won’t go through it again.” Leah rolled a bit further away, trying to get some physical distance to help her compute the new information. As quickly as she pushed her stool backwards, Tristan’s leg shot out and hooked his ankle around the stand and pulled her back. He tugged her in until her knees bracketed his own. Leah swallowed deeply, feeling vulnerable in this position. 

“Her mom was someone I dated casually because I was being pressured about marriage. She was someone I knew from school, we were in the same circles but were never close. She needed to a boyfriend to avoid an arranged marriage and I needed a girlfriend to show people that I was interested in having an heir.”

“You know that archaic, right?”

“Absolutely, but that’s the way it was. We dated for about a year when we got drunk, forgot protection and conceived my daughter. She didn’t want children at all and I did, so we decided that she would have the baby but she’d sign away her rights. As far as anyone is concerned, my daughter only has one parent and that’s fine.”

“But you were on a sabbatical. You spent months with me, travelling the US. I would’ve noticed if you suddenly weren’t there or if you had a baby with you.”

“I know, I had a nervous breakdown about a week after Charlotte was born. My aunt and I made a deal, I would take a few months off and she would take over. When I came back, I would take back the company, parent my daughter and I would be who people expected me to be. The only thing I didn’t plan on was meeting you, Leah. I would like you in my life.”

Leah rubbed her hands together, trying to wrap her mind around everything Tristan just told her.

“What about you? You said you did the whole ‘love triangle thing’ already.” Tristan put air quotes around the words ‘love triangle thing’. 

“I had a boyfriend who fell in love with my cousin. He’s with my cousin, and madly in love with her. But he’s also in love with me.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“No. I’m not.”

“Good. I’m going to kiss you now.” Tristan said before leaning in and kissing her soundly. 

When they separated for air, Leah gasped out, “This doesn’t change anything you know.”

Tristan’s lips wandered her neck before responding, “I’m in love with you. And we’re both here and all my secrets are in the open now. That changes everything.”

“Anyways, Leah, isn’t it your turn now? What are your secrets?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leah talks about the wolves and then they go off on a tangent and maybe Tristan sorta, kinda, maybe proposes?

“What are your secrets, Leah?” Tristan asked, sliding his stool in closer until Leah’s knees hit the edge of it.

Leah looked in his eyes, took and deep breathe and started to tell him. About the vampires and how they came to Forks and La Push, about the history of the wolf shapeshifters and that she had all three bloodlines in her so maybe it wasn’t a huge surprise that she was the first female shifter. She told him about Bella and the trouble she brought to her family but also how she’s technically family now. She saves the imprinting crap for last. 

“Shifters have this thing where they can identify their soulmates. You see them for the first time, and look into their eyes and it’s like nothing else exists. The only thing holding them to the ground is their mate, their imprint. My ex imprinted on my cousin, that’s the love triangle thing that I mentioned. She’s his soulmate but he never got over me, I think. Or maybe he feels guilty and some sort of weird obligation towards me, I don’t know, it’s complicated. It was a mess and it didn’t help that I antagonized them and my pack. It still is a mess, if you ask me.” Leah finished off. 

“Do you have a mate?” Tristan looked at her, wanting an answer she couldn’t give him. 

“I’m a genetic dead end. I can’t have kids. So it doesn’t make sense for me to have an imprint. Or that’s what the elders say, at least.” Leah is not making eye contact with Tristan. Even if he’s forcing her to be vulnerable, there’s no reason she has to make it easier for him. 

“What do you mean you’re a genetic dead end?”

“I haven’t gotten my period since I shifted and therefore have not ovulated. My body is not capable of having kids anymore, probably because pregnancy and shifting aren’t possible together. Maybe if I stopped shifting, I could but I haven’t tried that and frankly, I don’t want to stop shifting.”

“Did you want kids?” Tristan reaches out his hand to hold hers. She’s clenching her hands into fists and making sharp crescent moons into the heel of her palm with her dull nails. 

“Maybe, I did before all this happened. But now, I’m not so sure.” Tristan stretches her fingers out of a fist, one by one before smoothing out the temporary marks on her hand. He’s rubbing her hands as if that will console her of the fact that she will never be a mother. It’s a dark secret of hers that she wanted to be a housewife when she was younger. She wanted to marry Sam, and have a handful of kids and be the kind of mom who baked cookies for the school bake sale. It was the kind of idealistic fantasy you have as a little girl that either comes true with the right guy or rings false with the wrong one. She didn’t think she’d find out anymore. 

“You know, I’m more than happy to share the kid I do have with you. Charlotte can be kind of fussy but she loves giving people hugs. She’s a big fan of cuddling.”

Leah’s head whips up, a look of disbelief on her face. “I don’t know if you’re joking or proposing marriage.”

“I’m joking, I’m joking. Actually no, I’m not. But I know that if I proposed now you would say no so I won’t ask you now. I’ll wait and just bide my time.”

“You’re ridiculous. I left you and you want to propose to me?”

“As soon as we got off that plane in California, I knew I was gonna marry you. A guy just knows when he’s met the woman that he’ll marry.”


End file.
